Rakkestad Bygdeblad was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Rakkestad

Rakkestad

Rakkestad is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rakkestad. It is divided into the parishes of Rakkestad, Degernes, and Os. The municipality is the county's second largest by area and one of Norway's largest agricultural...

 in Østfold

Østfold

is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...

 county.

Rakkestad Bygdeblad was started on 4 September 2002 as a competitor to Rakkestad Avis

Rakkestad Avis

Rakkestad Avis is a local newspaper published in Rakkestad, Norway. It was published as Østfold Bygdeblad in Mysen from 1941 to 1986....

, which until then had a monopoly as a local newspaper. Journalist Carsten Lier was hired as editor, and two years after launch the newspaper had a circulation of 1,441. It was originally published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the same as Rakkestad Avis, but soon changed to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In 2004 the newspaper won the "Local Newspaper of the Year Award" from Landslaget for Lokalaviser.

In late 2004 the newspaper chose to launch the free magazine Østfoldmagasinet, with a circulation of 98,000. From 2006 Rakkestad Bygdeblad was distributed on a fourth day in the week, freely, to counter economical problems. Nonetheless, it went defunct in 2008.